Life is A Beautiful Struggle

1. Whatever you do in life will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it because you can’t know. You can’t ever really know the meaning of your life. And you don’t need to. Just know that your life has a meaning…every life has a meaning, whether it lasts one hundred years or one hundred seconds. Every life, every death, changes the world in its own way. Ghandi knew this. He knew his life would mean something to someone, somewhere, somehow. And he knew with as much certainty that he could never know that meaning. He understood that enjoying life should be of much greater concern than understanding it. And so do I. He can’t know. So don’t take it for granted, but don’t take it too seriously. Don’t postpone what you want. Don’t leave anything misunderstood. Make sure the people you care about know. Make sure they know how you really feel, because just like that…it could end.

                 

2. When you’re out there looking for that perfect person, keep these things in mind: people change, no matter how hard they try not to. As you grow older, you mature, and which each new level of maturity come different ideas, different needs and wants. The person who was perfect for you at twenty could be the person you hate at thirty-five. You have to find someone who will grow with you, change with you, laugh with you and cry with you. A person who fills in where you lack, a person whom you can fill in for when they are lacking. But what about the perfect person you ask? They don’t exist. There are no perfect people, only people who are perfect for each other. You deserve to be happy, not in the arms of someone who keeps you waiting, but in the arms of someone who will take you now.

                             

3. Love and electricity are one in the same. My dear, if you do not feel the jolt in your soul every time a kiss is shared, a whisper is spoken, and a touch is felt, then you’re not really in love at all.

                      

4. Lightening doesn’t often strike in the same place twice. It’s a once in a lifetime thing. Even if it feels like the shock is coming over and over again. Eventually, the pain will go away; the shock will wear off. And you start to heal yourself. To recover from something you never saw coming. But, sometimes the odds are in your favor. If you’re in just the right place at just the right time, you can take a hell of a hit, and still have a shot at surviving.                             

5. No matter how frightened and discouraged I may become about the future, I look forward to it. In spite of everything I see all around me everyday, I have a shaky assurance that everything will turn out fine; and I don’t think I’m the only one. Why else would the phrase “everything is alright,” ease a trouble place in so many of us? We just don’t know, we never know, yet we have so much faith. We hold our hands over our hurts and lean forward. It is how we keep on, this kind of hope. 

                   

6.”You know what’s wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You’re chicken, you’ve got no guts. You’re afraid to stick out your chin and say, “Okay, life’s a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other because that’s the only chance anybody’s got for real happiness.” You call yourself a free spirit, a “wild thing,” and you’re terrified somebody’s gonna stick you in a cage. Well, baby, you’re already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it’s not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It’s wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.” ~Breakfast at Tiffany’s

                              

7. And I learned what is obvious to a child. That life is simply a collection of little lives, each lived one day at a time. That each day should be spent finding beauty in flowers and poetry and talking to animals. That a day spent with dreaming and sunsets and refreshing breezes cannot be bettered. But most of all; I learned that life is about sitting on benches next to ancient creeks with me hand on her knee and sometimes, on good days, for falling in love.

                     

8. I kinda miss the bond we shared. I mean, who wouldn’t miss that comfortable feeling with a person? Where we could talk for hours about everything, anything and not have a problem with the silence in the middle. Can’t forget all the ridiculous stuff we did. Stupid or not, everything was just so fun. Endless nights, real talks, the “remember whens,” I remember it all. And it’s funny what life does, how it could just give you things and take it away so soon. I really can’t get it into my head that you grow distant from people and that good things come to an end sooner or later. But along the way, I learned one thing about life; it goes on. You just gotta pick yourself up and learn to keep up.

                            

9. Now we’ve all grown up, gone on and moved away. Nothing I can do about it. Nothing I can say brings us back to where were when life was not this hard. Looking back, it all just seems so far, so far away. We’ll be miles apart, I’ll keep you deep inside. You’re always in my heart. A new life to start, you may be leaving, but you’re always in my heart. I’d give it up for just one more day with you, give it up for just one more day.

                  

10. Have you ever thought that if one thing hadn’t happened, a whole set of things never would have either? Like dominoes in time, a single event kicked off an unstoppable series of changes that gained momentum and spun out of control, and nothing was ever the same again. Don’t ever doubt that a mere second can change your life forever.

11. Sometimes, life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just get better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

12. “What exactly needs explanation? The fact that I’ve been waiting around like a moron hoping that one day, you’ll actually feel about me the way I feel about you? Or the fact that you’re so obsessed with your future, that you completely forgot about everyone you’re supposed to care about? I’m not waiting around anymore. I’m done. I may not know exactly what my future looks like, but I know one thing; you’re not in it.” ~ Post Grad

                         

13. “I understand feeling as small and as insignificant as humanly possible. And how it can actually ache in places you didn’t know you had inside of you. And it doesn’t matter how many new haircuts you get, or gyms you join, or how many glasses of Chardonnay you drink with your girlfriends, you still go to bed every night going over ever detail and wonder what you did wrong or how you could have misunderstood. And how in the hell for that brief moment you could think that you were that happy. And sometimes, you can even convince yourself that he’ll see the light and show up at your door. And after all that, however long all that may be, you’ll go somewhere new. And you’ll meet people who make you feel worthwhile again. And little pieces of your soul will finally come back. And all that fuzzy stuff, those years of your life that you wasted, that will eventually begin to fade.” ~ The Holiday

14. Sometimes late at night, I think about all the things that have been, all the things that haven’t been, and all the things yet to be. If my heart could explode into a billion tiny pieces and scatter themselves all over the world, I could live on sunlight and the city sounds and fall asleep in those thousands of lighted windows. I wonder if this world will ever make sense to me; if I will ever truly understand anything…and if there’s really anything to understand at all.

15. I can’t help but think that somewhere inside of you, I’m there. Somewhere between liking me and loving me and everything in the middle, you got scared. The tingling and the butterflies terrified you. You didn’t know what could or couldn’t happen.. Call me crazy, but I think I mean a lot more to you than meaningless hugs and empty feelings. I don’t think you can run away from this feeling forever. I think you are eventually just going to have to be okay with the fact that I make your stomach flip and your heart skip. Eventually, you’ll realize it’s the best feeling in the world. But baby, you better realize it soon, because I’m tired of waiting for you.

16. I was thinking how amazing it was that the world contained so many lives. Out in these streets, people were embroiled in a thousand different matters: money problems, love problems, school problems. People were falling in love, getting married, going to drug rehab, learning how to ice skate, getting bifocals, studying for exams, trying on clothes, getting their hair cut, and being born. And in some houses, people were getting old, and sick and were dying, leaving others to grieve. It was happening all this time, unnoticed, and it was the thing that really mattered.

17. All the things that break you, are the things that make you strong.

                          

18. At some point, you have to make decisions. Boundaries don’t keep other people out; they fence you in. Life is messy, that’s how we’re made. So you can waste your life drawing lines, or you can live your life crossing them. But there are some lines that are way too dangerous to cross. Here’s what I know: if you’re willing to take a chance, the view from the other side is spectacular. 

19. The past is always going to be deep inside our souls. You can’t run from it, you can’t hide from it. You just have to accept it and remember that you can’t bring the good memories back, but when you’re having one of those days, you can sit back and reminisce on the times you had and the feelings they brought. 

20. Someone will always be prettier. They will always be smarter. Their house will always be bigger. They will always drive a better car. Their children will do better in school, and their husbands will fix more things about the house. So let it go, and love yourself and your circumstances. Think about it; the prettiest women in the world have turmoil in their house, and the highly favored women at your job may be unable to have children. And the richest woman you know, who’s got the car, the house, the clothes- might be lonely. And the world says, “If I have no love, I am nothing.” So again, love who you are. Look in the mirror in the morning, smile, and say, “I am blessed to be stressed, and too annointed to be disappointed. Winners make things happen; losers let things happen.